If you weren’t aware, in the middle of last year we moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan.  Right now we’re only a few stops away from the Upper West Side, so we’ve been spending our weekends checking out some of the cool restaurants in that neighborhood.  Today we’re going to feature two of those places, which are within walking distance of each other.  These spots each serve up cuisine from different parts of the world, and they’re both interesting and delicious, so read on!  Just be warned that we will be featuring some images of meat here.

First up is a restaurant that felt particularly appropriate for us – an Israeli place called Miriam.  This is actually Miriam’s second location:  they first opened in Park Slope, Brooklyn a few years ago but recently debuted a second restaurant on the Upper West Side.  As is traditional with Middle Eastern food, we started our meal with a couple of different mezes.  First was their hummus …

… then some falafel …

… and also an order of the whipped feta topped with squash, zucchini, and sliced almonds.

Then for entrees Miriam had the seasonal vegetable stew, which also comes with a side of couscous.

While Cyril tried the lamb shank osso buco, with roasted carrots in a pomegranate sauce on top of pearled couscous.

If you’re in the mood for something different, you can also head a few blocks north to Nina’s Great Burrito Bar.  This is a new location for them too – they were previously in a counter-service spot nearby but were able to open a sit down restaurant recently.  So we went in to check out what Nina’s is all about, and we started our meal with the calabacitas con elote, made with corn, squash, and zucchini cooked with queso fresco and monterey jack cheese.

Then we both had some tacos: for Miriam it was the vegetales.

And Cyril got these birria tacos, with chile de arbol salsa and extra beef broth on the side.

And we also split two desserts – the flan …

… and an order of churros.

We thought that both of these places were really good – at Nina’s Great Burrito Bar we got some elevated classic Mexican cuisine, while at Miriam we had several interesting versions of Israeli food.  It’s amazing that by walking just a few blocks you can eat food from two different continents , and that’s one of the things that makes this city so amazing.  We look forward to exploring more of the Upper West Side, and other neighborhoods around New York, and of course we’ll update you with what we find!